The US has the largest prison system in the world-and it is not compliant with the Constitutional assurances against cruel and inhuman punishment. I think some mention of this deserves to be in a list of grievances. This could potentially attract support outside the current OWS base.

The prison situation is in this country is frightening. Cross posting from a poll thread:

I think an important issue pertaining to race should be the private prison situation.

http://www.lostrepublic.us/Graphics/Incarceration_rates_worldwide.gif

In 1998 we actually surpassed the FORMER Soviet Union in incarceration rates. We've only exploded from there. Yes, we are currently worse than China, former USSR, current Russia, and every other horrible police state you can think of, both in percentage and pure numbers. Trust me, the pure numbers are far, far worse than looking at the per 100,000 statistics.

This is an extremely important issue, because there is a disproportionate number of people of color in our prison systems. http://beinglatino.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/race_us_prison.jpg

These are people that have had their voice taken from them! They cannot vote, and cannot provide a decent life once they are out of prison! In fact, there are more black people in prison now than were enslaved in 1850. http://www.theroot.com/buzz/more-black-men-prison-enslaved-1850

And why not? Prisons are for profit now! "Structured to promote failure" as it's called. http://www.examiner.com/criminal-justice-in-denver/colorado-s-prison-system-structured-to-promote-failure

So when a private prison opens up, the state gives that prison money for every prisoner housed. It's a business, it has to make PROFIT! What financial incentive does a private prison have to rehabilitate a prisoner and make them a positive member of society? Keep those jails full and the money rolling in. They use that money to buy lobbyists, write legislation, and make it easier and easier to throw people in jail.

It's not bad enough that our tax dollars pay for this atrocity, but prisoners are essentially treated like slaves. http://blackcommentator.com/142/142_slavery_2.html On a personal side of this I have a family member that works in a furniture factory, and when business is slow and fewer people are needed, the full wage workers get sent home and the prison laborers (who are there on work programs and are payed far below minimum wage) are kept on to do the work.

To top it all off, the inmates are still charged for their stay in prison.http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/05/doing-time-on-their-own-dime-more-states-charge-inmates-for-stays-in-jail-prison.html

This is a serious issue where greed and corporate lobbying is doing major harm to this country in the name of more profit to the detriment of all people, but especially people of color. Obviously people without much money cannot afford good lawyers or use many of the avenues the wealthier use to avoid incarceration. Our entire justice system is geared heavily around exploiting those without knowledge of how the system works or the power to combat it.

To given an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgikA lawyer explaining all the ways you can get screwed by the law, guilty or innocent, just for talking to cops.

To anyone that might have said "no" to the poll:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mjvFNOwmc

I don't know as much as I should about racial problems in this country (I'm still learning), but this is a good starting point. By all means check his facts and sources. Do some research into this issue, and above all, LISTEN to the people that live with discrimination every day of their lives and can tell you from first-hand experience.

I think for-profit prisons and the legislation they write is a major issue. We're already living in, quite literally, a police state. It's obvious who the greatest number of victims are in this equation, and it is effectively silencing people of color.